The present invention is related to compounds and pharmaceutical compositions useful as hypocholesterolemic and hypolipidemic agents. More particularly, this invention concerns certain trans-6-[2-[2-(substituted-phenyl)-3- (or 4-)heteroaryl-5-substituted-1H-pyrrol-1-yl]ethyl]tetrahydro-4-hydroxy-2H-p yran-2-ones and the corresponding lactone-ring-opened acids which are potent inhibitors of the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG CoA reductase), pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds, and a method of inhibiting the biosynthesis of cholesterol employing such pharmaceutical compositions.
High levels of blood cholesterol and blood lipids are conditions involved in the onset of arteriosclerosis. It is well known that inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase are effective in lowering the level of blood plasma cholesterol, especially low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), in man (cf. M. S. Brown and J. L. Goldstein, New England Journal of Medicine, 305, No. 9, 515-517 (1981). It has now been established that lowering LDL-C levels affords protection from coronary heart disease (cf. Journal of the American Medical Association, 251, No. 3, 351-374 (1984).
Moreover, it is known that certain derivatives of mevalonic acid (3,5-dihydroxy-3-methylpentanoic acid) and the corresponding ring-closed lactone form, mevalonolactone, inhibit the biosynthesis of cholesterol (cf. F. M. Singer et al., Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol. Med., 102: 270 (1959) and F. H. Hulcher, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 146: 422 (1971)).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,983,140; 4,049,495 and 4,137,322 disclose the fermentative production of a natural product, now called compactin, having an inhibitory effect on cholesterol biosynthesis. Compactin has been shown to have a complex structure which includes a mevalonolactone moiety (Brown et al., J. Chem. Soc. Perkin I (1976) 1165.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,444 to Oka et al. discloses several synthetic derivatives of mevalonolactone having antilipidemic activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,425 and 4,262,013 to Mitsue et al. disclose aralkyl derivatives of mevalonolactone which are useful in the treatment of hyperlipidemia.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,475 to Willard et al. discloses certain substituted 4-hydroxytetrahydropyran-2-ones which, in the 4(R)-trans-stereoisomeric form, are inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis.
Published PCT application WO 86/00307 discloses certain pyrazole analogs and derivatives of mevalonolactone having utility as hypolipoproteinemic and antiatherosclerotic agents.